"It's a shame what's happening to British engineering and what's happened to Jaguar," said Bamford. "They should sell it to me."

But automotive guru Professor Garel Rhys of Cardiff University disagrees: “There is no synergy between a JCB and a Jaguar,” he said in an interview with The Telegraph. “The only thing they have in common is four wheels and a steering column… Jaguar would bring JCB down.